Booking Your First Cruise

Tom and Mary Milano

First decide the length of your cruise and where you want to go. Then read as many reviews as
possible of ships sailing in that area. Log onto cruise-chat.com and find out
what is being said about those ships. For your first cruise booking, you will
feel more comfortable dealing face to face with a local cruise agent. For a
person who has never booked a cruise, it's sometimes difficult to know what
questions to ask. A local cruise professional can help you through this process. Check with
friends that cruise. Ask who they would recommend. Arrange a meeting and be prepared to answer the
following questions.

Where you want to cruise and for how long? Do you have a particular ship in mind?
[If not, the agent
will help you decide.] What kind of accommodations, [cabin] would you like?
[The
agent will help you decide.] Do you like to dine early or late or
would freestyle be more to your liking? Do you have any special food requirements, such as
vegetarian or kosher? Do you want the cruise line to arrange for your air
transportation? Do you want cruise insurance? Do you have a passport?

It's always wise to get a second quote. Get a quote on the same exact accommodations from another
agent. It's usually better to book early
than late. Good agents will protect your price by checking to see if the rates
have fallen since you booked. If the cruise line has a sale on your cabin
category, they will have the cruise line make a price adjustment. Booking early will also increase
your chance of being upgraded. Upgrades are done on a first-come, first-served basis. Book early,
then sit back, relax and let your cruise agent earn his or her commission.

The Best Time to Cruise:

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. The season you chose to cruise will determine the
cost of your ticket. Cruise lines, like most business, set their pricing by
supply and demand. If you book in the busiest seasons, the price is the highest.
If you book in the slowest vacation periods, the price tends to be lower. Ask
your cruise agent what months are the most expensive and the least expensive to
cruise. There may be a considerable variance in price.

Cruise Insurance:

It's a good idea to have Cruise insurance but it is not required. The cost is
based on the
price of your cruise tickets. An average figure would be around a $100 per adult. In general it covers
your investment if you have to cancel your cruise, if you have an emergency medical expense, baggage loss, travel
delay and so forth. There are a number of plans with different coverage. Have your cruise agent
explain the various policies that are available.

Just about everyone
agrees that obtaining a third party insurance policy is preferable to
purchasing the cruise line's own policy. This protects you should the
cruise line itself fail. Many cruisers that experienced losses with
Commodore, Renaissance, American Hawaii, U.S. Cruise Line, Premier and so
on will testify to this fact. For an in-depth look at cruise insurance and
to find out if you are a likely candidate for insurance, check out this article.

What Are You Expected to Tip on a Cruise?

In back of each cruise brochure is a list of suggested tips for the various servers. The amount is
usually $3.50 a day for cabin steward and waiter, $2 a day to the assistant waiter and $.75 a day
for the Maitre`d. For a couple of the cruise lines, the suggested tips come to approximately $150 for a week.

How much
you tip is up to you. Many servers receive as little as $100 in wages a month. Your tips are very
important to them. They go out of their way to pamper you and cater to you and like most cruisers
you will probably tip them more than the suggested rate. Many of the cruise
lines have gone to adding the gratuity to your ship board account
relieving you of having to seek out the various people that have served
you on the final evening to deliver their tips. Folks seem to like
this method better.

Do You Have to Tip if You Get Bad Service?

On some cruise lines tipping is at your discretion. It would be very unusual to have such bad service that you wouldn't
want to tip. If you find your service less than desirable, tell the Maitre`d and he will take the
necessary steps to see that things immediately improve for you.

You might like to try the tipping suggestion that our Contributing editor's Tom & Mary write
about in their
Millennium Review. It has proved very successful and is being used by many of their readers. It is a proven method
for getting the best possible service.

What is The Difference in Cruise Lines and Their Ships?

This can be answered in a number of ways. I think a good way to describe how they differ is by
making an analogy. First, lets look at the ships of one cruise line. Cruise lines and their ships
are like families. In a family that has five children, you will usually find that they are similar
in appearance, but each has a slightly different personality. The ships of cruise lines are like
that. Each ship of a particular cruise line has its own personality. It is usually determined by the
performance of the officers and the crew to the degree they cater to and pamper their guests. Like
the personalities of members of a family, some are more outgoing and congenial than others.

As for cruise lines, they cover a much broader scope. There is a cruise ship for whatever type
atmosphere you enjoy. Certain cruise lines cater to the younger, party crowd. Some cater to an older
clientele. Others appeal to the intellectual set. While still others, cater to every spectrum of our
society. The trick is to find the right cruise line and the right ship. That's why you need a good,
knowledgeable cruise professional. Your cruise agent can help you decide what is the right ship for
you, They can offer this service as all they do is sell cruises. They
know the cruise lines and have seen the ships and are familiar with the
average passenger make ups.

This is an article written by our Contributing Editors Tom and Mary Milano,
that answers many of the questions you might have about cruising. Tom &
Mary made their first cruise in the summer of 1996 and became passionate
cruisers. They cruise five/six times a year and have made 30 plus cruises.
They devote their time and energies helping first time cruisers. Read
their most informative and insightful article and find out why they call
their cruises "Honeymoons."

Ask questions and get advice from other cruisers on our popular discussion board,